Unworthy Words

For the love of humanity, to put a smile on the face of a fellow human could be the most alluring virtue an individual can ever get. Although man was born alone and so was the woman, yet they were destined to make family-community-society in the world. Humanity thrives in society as the beauty of existing alone is the trait of God only.

The existence of an individual in a society is not possible without communication with fellow humans and developing relationships to have families. These relationships and communication prosper more when the aura around them is filled up with fun, gossip, entertainment and recreation. However, for humans, there has always existed a certain code of ethics, either religious or man-made, which has been transforming every aspect of communication and behavioral patterns. To fill up the environment with a lot of fun, unfortunately, people forget to take care of ethical aspects regarding gossiping and having fun.

The problem of gossiping and its ethical dilemma has its foundation in “Talking More”. In Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, there is a poetic conversation between Lear and Fool, in Act-1, Scene-4, which sums up morality and code of ethics while specifically mentioning ‘talking less’ in first couplet of conversation;

“Have more than thou showest.

Speak less than thou knowest,”

In order to have better time, negative aspects of ‘talking more’ are mostly forgotten. The traits of ‘talking more’ in people breed multiple ethical dilemmas such as backbiting, abuses, using foul mouth, slandering, wastage of time, disrespect towards elders and taunts etc. To talk more is to get exposed more. Even though time is abstract, it has remained a witness to humans’ breach of ethical code in conversation as well as in practice. The more modern the man, the more is the commonality of ethical code-breach. The normalization of backbiting and foul language by elders is disastrous with long-term effects on youngsters and their way of gossiping thus suffers from multiple ethical dilemmas. In the 21st century, the increasing materialism has made people ignore ethical conundrums and the importance of fellow human’s existence and dignity.

There is a clear verse in chapter Al-Hujarat of Quran which says that;

"O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, in deeds some suspicions are sins. And spy not neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah, verily, Allah is the One who accepts repentance, Most Merciful.” 

(49:12)

In order to counter these issues, the emphasis on morality and ethics is more required within the family systems rather than society. For example; to teach ethics (Adab): before teaching anything, it is important to not use foul language, taunt, disrespect in front of children, and to show them the value and equality of a fellow human.  It is not a problem of governance (except the role of the media) but an individualistic and communal one which needs reformation through self-improvement and upbringing of youth within the family according to moral and ethical code of life. The only way to avoid above-mentioned dilemmas in fun is to maintain this very ethical and moral code of humanity and abide by it. It is only possible by focusing on religious values, ethics and the abstract side of humanity in the world rather than the materialistic and entertainment side.

Let’s see who had fun today;

If you did, no worries, you can start working on yourself from the very moment, but if you did not have “fun”, then congratulations! You are an angel and a human cannot be possibly an angel.